Mobile: E-Lit

A new way to read fiction -- one text message at a time

In the past week, about 10,000 people have read the first line of a new novella called "Ghost Town," about a homeless teenager: "'U always come out of nowhere,' Brad the quarterback laughed."

So begins a story that's being dubbed a "text novella." Wireless company Virgin Mobile is beaming it to the cellphones of users who sign up, sending the story in 160-character installments through two text messages a...